Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed the latest allegations by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachir Lawal, saying the latter came forward with claims but failed to provide any evidence to support them.
The position was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, who described Babachir’s recent television interview as “an unfortunate cocktail of bitterness, conjecture, and political revisionism masquerading as public interest.”
According to the statement, Nigerians who watched the former SGF’s recent television interview “were confronted with a curious spectacle: a man armed with outrage but bereft of evidence; rich in allegations but poor in facts.”
Shaibu argued that what was presented as a serious political intervention “ultimately collapsed into an extended exercise in speculation and unsubstantiated claims.”
“Mr. Lawal spent nearly an hour making grave accusations about the conduct of the ADC presidential primary. Yet he failed to produce a single piece of verifiable evidence. No document. No petition. No result sheet. No witness statement. No recording. Nothing,” the statement said.
“For a man who repeatedly insisted that proof was ‘everywhere,’ his performance was a masterclass in making extraordinary allegations without meeting the elementary obligation of substantiating them.
“He arrived with accusations. He left with accusations. In between, the evidence never arrived.”
The former vice president’s media aide further faulted Babachir for relying on unnamed sources and unverifiable claims, insisting that a politician of his standing should understand the difference between suspicion and evidence.
“Ordinarily, one would expect a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and former National Vice Chairman of a political party to understand the elementary distinction between evidence and suspicion,” Shaibu stated.
“Instead, Nigerians were treated to stories about unnamed callers, unnamed officials, unnamed witnesses, and unnamed conspirators. By the time the interview ended, the only thing in abundance was speculation.”
The statement also suggested that Babachir’s criticisms stemmed from disappointment over the outcome of the ADC presidential primaries, alleging that he had openly supported another aspirant before the contest was concluded.
“What the interview ultimately revealed was not a whistleblower exposing wrongdoing but a disappointed political actor struggling to come to terms with the failure of his preferred candidate,” the statement read.
“By his own admission, Mr. Lawal openly aligned himself with another aspirant long before the conclusion of the process. He campaigned for that candidate, promoted that candidate, and publicly believed that candidate should emerge victorious. Having failed in that objective, he now seeks to dress personal disappointment in the borrowed robes of moral outrage.”
Shaibu also described as contradictory Babachir’s portrayal of Atiku as both politically irrelevant and powerful enough to manipulate a nationwide political process.
“Perhaps the most laughable contradiction in Mr. Lawal’s performance was his attempt to portray Atiku Abubakar as both politically irrelevant and politically omnipotent at the same time,” he said.
“According to his own account, Atiku was inactive, unpopular, and absent from the field. Yet Nigerians are simultaneously expected to believe that this same supposedly dormant politician somehow orchestrated a nationwide conspiracy across 8,809 wards.”
He argued that such a theory would require party members across the country to have abandoned their independent judgment in favour of an alleged invisible conspiracy.
“What makes this theory particularly absurd is that it requires Nigerians to believe that thousands of ADC members across the federation abandoned their own judgment and surrendered their votes to an invisible conspiracy directed by a man whom Mr. Lawal simultaneously describes as politically inactive,” the statement added.
The statement further drew attention to comments made by Engr. Babachir during the interview concerning President Bola Tinubu.
“More revealing, however, was Mr. Lawal’s astonishing confession on national television that if he ever needed money, all he had to do was call President Tinubu and the money would reach him before he got home,” Shaibu claimed.
“Nigerians heard him. Nigerians understood him. And Nigerians can draw their own conclusions from the implications of such a remarkable declaration.”
Atiku’s spokesman further accused Babachir of attempting to undermine the former vice president’s support base, particularly among Christian communities in the Middle Belt.
“Increasingly, Mr. Lawal cuts the figure of a political mercenary, eagerly retailing narratives carefully designed to discredit Atiku Abubakar before Christian communities in the Middle Belt and other constituencies where the former Vice President continues to enjoy considerable goodwill,” he said.
Shaibu also accused the former SGF of allowing personal grievances to becloud his judgement.
“The tragedy of Mr. Lawal’s intervention is that he appears to have become so consumed by bitterness that he no longer recognises the difference between evidence and speculation. Every outcome he dislikes is rigging. Every defeat is a conspiracy. Every disagreement becomes proof of manipulation. This is not the language of reason. It is the language of grievance.”
The statement further criticised Babachir for allegedly resorting to personal attacks rather than presenting facts.
“More unfortunate was his descent into reckless personal abuse. Unable to defend his allegations with facts, he resorted to insults. Yet history teaches us that insults are often the last refuge of those who have run out of arguments,” Shaibu stated.
Defending Atiku’s political career, the statement dismissed the former ADC chieftain’s claim that the former vice president had “absolutely nothing” to show for his years in public life.
“Such a statement could only have come from a man blinded by animosity,” Shaibu said.
“Nigerians know Atiku Abubakar’s record. They know his role in the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector, his contributions to economic reforms, private sector development, education, and national growth. They know that political relevance sustained across three decades and multiple political generations cannot be built on ‘nothing.’”
The statement concluded by insisting that Babachir’s interview failed to substantiate any of the allegations he raised.
“Indeed, the most devastating rebuttal to Babachir Lawal’s allegations came not from Atiku Abubakar, the ADC, or any member of the public. It came from Babachir Lawal himself,” Shaibu said.
“Given every opportunity to substantiate his claims, he left the studio exactly as he entered it — with accusations but without proof, with outrage but without evidence, and with bitterness but without credibility.”
Declaring the matter closed, Atiku’s aide said the former vice president would not be responding further to Babachir’s comments.
“Mr. Lawal is entitled to his opinions. He is entitled to his preferences. He is even entitled to his disappointments. What he is not entitled to are his own facts.
“As far as we are concerned, this is the final response to Mr. Lawal’s increasingly desperate attempts to remain politically relevant through sensationalism and character assassination. Nigerians have heard him. Nigerians have seen him. And Nigerians have judged for themselves.
“The facts remain unchanged. The truth remains intact. And no amount of bitterness can alter either,” he stated.
